Bakery goods and cakes are Western treats that arrived in Thailand but did not become widely popular at first, because the bakes were old-fashioned and both the ingredients and baking equipment were expensive. So what makes up the world of bakery and cake?
Western Baking in Thailand
Bakery goods, known in Thai as "khanom farang" (Western sweets), first came to Thailand during the reign of King Narai the Great, when wheat flour was newly introduced. They did not catch on widely, however, because the bakes were traditional, the ingredients had to be imported and were therefore expensive, and cake-making equipment was costly too. Each batch required a fairly large investment, making bakes expensive compared with main meals, so bakery remained popular only among a small group.
Early Western-style bakes in Thailand were found around Santa Cruz Church, the birthplace of khanom farang kudi chin, baked over charcoal stoves, and around Saphan Han, where bakers used traditional ovens with fire below and a fire-covered lid above. As for ovens, the Chinese are said to have been the first to know bread-making, with a bread called "roti", the bread of the Hainanese. Their ovens followed a tradition of burying salt under the oven, bricking it in and stoking the fire; the salt spread the heat to cook the bakes.
What Goes into Bakery and Cake?
Main Baking Ingredients
1. Wheat flour comes in many brands, each used differently. Cakes use the following flours:
- Low-protein wheat flour gives a light, fluffy crumb, for cakes such as sponge cake or chiffon cake.
- Medium-protein wheat flour suits pies and puff pastry, giving a dough that is slightly chewy or crisp and flaky.
- Fairly high-protein wheat flour suits cookies, giving a crisp yet tender, crumbly texture.
- Very high-protein wheat flour is used for bread, because its gluten network holds together, giving bread a chewy, soft crumb.
2. Sugar is used in cookies and comes in several types, such as white sugar, brown sugar and icing sugar. Which one to use depends on your mixing method. If you stir by hand with a whisk, use powdered sugar so it dissolves well into the butter. If you use an electric mixer, regular fine granulated sugar is fine. Brown sugar or cane sugar should be sifted before use so there are no sugar lumps in the mix.
3. Butter
- Butter is made from rich cow's milk and is pale yellow. It must be kept chilled and left to soften slightly before use so it mixes in well.
- Margarine is a deep yellow, almost orange, and stays solid at room temperature without melting, so it does not need refrigerating.
- Shortening (white fat) is white and is used to grease baking tins so bakes don't stick, or mixed with butter to whip into frosting for decorating cakes.
- Pastry margarine is a margarine used for laminating pastry layers. It is pliable, easy to roll out and helps the layers rise higher.
Basic Equipment
- Hand whisk
- Rubber spatula
- Butter spreader
- Mixing bowl
- Cookie trays and cake tins
- Baking paper
- Cookie piping nozzles and piping bags
- Pastry brush
- Electric mixer
